


good times around the corner (i swear it's getting warmer)

by cursive



Category: NU'EST, Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Single Dad Minhyun, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Woojin is a good kid, side JRen, sort of... Minhyun is a bit clueless
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2018-12-30 18:40:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12114810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cursive/pseuds/cursive
Summary: The first time Woojin met his dance instructor wasn't really the first time.orof fated encounters, emotionally constipated adults, and nosy children.





	1. a bag of carrots

**Author's Note:**

  * For [timefliesby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/timefliesby/gifts).



> sooooooooo this was inspired by my undying love for the idea of single dad Minhyun and [this tweet](https://twitter.com/mnet101boys/status/875996370141814784) AND Bonnie's prompt over that tweet that we screamed over for a good hour last friday :') thank you Bonnie for constantly delivering wholesome content and being such a gr8 presence in my life, this is for you!!
> 
> this was supposed to be a short-ish oneshot for my unofficial Minhyun ships project but it got a bit out of hand so I'm splitting it in three parts so it won't tire you guys out that much, I guess hahahah it's a bit boring/slice of lifey, but it was fun to write so I wanted to share it
> 
> [toddler woojin pics](https://twitter.com/winkchams/status/872842107781734401) for reference for this chapter and because he was TOO CUTE LOOK AT THOSE CHUBBY CHEEKS

Moving out from Busan to Seoul was, to say the least, a little _difficult_ for four-year old Woojin.

He knew it was for the best; _daddy’s got a better job_ , Minhyun explained to him the week before they moved, _I’ll be able to take you to the amusement park more often, now_. Woojin wasn’t about to complain about that, especially not after his dad showed him pictures of the many bigger, better amusement parks in Seoul. He would miss the sea, though; the rivers in Seoul had nothing on the sea if he couldn’t swim in them, and they didn’t even have _waves_!

Besides, all his favorite uncles lived in Seoul, from loud uncles Minki and Jonghyun to more subdued but still funny uncle Aron, along with uncle Dongho, who would always take him out for ice cream when he visited. The prospect of having more ice cream escapades was very appealing, Woojin had to be honest to himself; still, he would miss auntie Sujin the most, even though she’d promised she would visit as much as she could. Seeing her almost every day back in Busan did bring about a few nights of crying himself to sleep on his dad’s arms in Seoul, an almost unexplainable feeling of emptiness from the new, strange surroundings and the absence of the rest of their family, such as his aunt and grandparents, gnawing at him.

(he missed visiting mom, too, bringing her flowers Minhyun had told him were her favorites, talking to her about his day, even though his words weren’t big yet and he often ran out of things to tell her, looking at her smiling pictures and odd teeth that his dad always compared to one of his Digimon plushies; Minhyun reassured him she would always be with them even if they moved away from where she was right now, and Woojin liked to believe in his father, even though he never thought he had actually felt his mom’s presence around them as much as his dad insisted on it)

Either way, Woojin learned to enjoy his new daily routine, as busy and strange as it was. He liked waking up early to his dad’s pancakes and gentle hugs, liked to watch him drive the short way to preschool, liked it when his dad kissed him on the forehead before dropping him off to go to work. He liked kindergarten, with teacher Jisung and his animal impressions, with Hyungseob and Jihoon (who, having recently moved from the coast as well, also spoke in deep satoori similar to his) to play with him and make sure there would never be a dull moment, with the class pet bunny and their fluffy blankets for nap time. He liked to walk home with his dad by the end of the afternoon, he liked it when Minhyun would let him wear and play with his tie during their walks; he even liked it when they had errands to run before going home, such as going grocery shopping or meeting up with uncle Dongho or uncles Minki and Jonghyun for dinner on Fridays.

He especially enjoyed going grocery shopping with his dad, helping him pick out fresh vegetables for dinner (he has been told several times by Jihoon that he’s a _weird kid_ for liking his dad’s vegetable soup, but hey, Jihoon only said that because he had never _tried_ his dad’s vegetable soup. He’d come around once he knew what he was missing out on), and eventually even succeeding in asking him for his favorite snacks (contrary to Hyungseob’s beliefs, behaving well did have its perks); he liked how his dad would let him handle the list and strike out the things they already had in their cart, pointing out to him the names he was not able to read, yet (most of them, but he was _trying_ to learn, okay!), complimenting his good job once he was done.

 It wasn’t much different on that Thursday afternoon; Woojin had glitter on his nose and chubby cheeks from teacher’s Jisung latest project (fairy wands, because it may be fall but teacher Jisung _never_ drops spring themes), and despite his efforts Minhyun couldn’t wipe it all off with just his fingers, so he was set on making Woojin take a bath as soon as they got home in order to get rid of it. Woojin himself didn’t really mind the glitter, also thinly spread over his yellow coat;  teacher Jisung said it made them all look _magical_ , and Woojin was convinced that if he waved his hands as if he were waving a wand, he could also make magic, maybe even transform things!

He considered turning his dad into a frog, but his dad hated frogs; maybe a fox? A fox dad would be nice, he thought.

“Woojinie”, his dad woke him up from his reverie, holding out a small bag of carrots in front of him, “can you hold onto these for me, please? I need to talk to the manager. The price of these mandarins can’t be right…”

His dad muttered that last part more to himself than to Woojin, but the boy obediently took the bag of carrots, a bit too big to be held with only one toddler hand, while he held onto his dad’s hand with his one free hand, following him to wherever he needed to go, their shopping cart momentarily forgotten near the vegetables isle.

Minhyun briefly let go of his son’s hand in order to call for the manager; Woojin wasn’t really paying attention to the fact that his dad had actually stopped walking, and wandered a bit farther than intended, using his now free hand to _practice spells_ , like teacher Jisung had taught him; Hyungseob had mastered the gesture first, and even bragged he would turn his family dog into a dragon first thing when he got home. Woojin had no pets ( _we don’t have time for one, honey_ , his dad explained time and time again, and he understood, really, but still felt a little disappointed), and Jihoon wouldn’t let him test his magic on the class bunny, so he figured he should test it on his dad.

He settled next to the adult in front of the freezers aisle, realizing he should probably stop walking and grab his dad’s hand again; Minhyun always told him to stay close and hold his hand at all times in public spaces, after all, and Woojin saw no reason to disobey him on that. He grabbed onto the hand next to him, clutching the bag of carrots close to his chest, and frowned a little at the cast on that hand’s thumb; did his dad get hurt while he wasn’t paying attention?

“Huh?”, Woojin heard the person next to him question; that _wasn’t_ his dad’s voice. Had his magic worked? He didn’t want to turn his dad into another person, he wanted to turn him into a fox! He looked up warily, going from the hand he was currently grabbing onto to the stranger’s shoulders and then to his face.

The person beside him might have been as tall as his dad, but he certainly wasn’t dressed like him, his jeans jacket and ripped pants too foreign to Woojin; those were things he would see on uncle Dongho and maybe uncle Minki, not on his dad.

Yeah, no, that definitely _wasn’t_ his dad. Maybe a fairy, if the man’s pink hair was anything to go by.

“Are you lost?”, the stranger asked in a deep voice but a pleasant tone, the accent way too familiar and _not_ something he was used to listening in Seoul at all. Woojin soon realized, though, that no, he hadn’t turned his dad into a big, pink-haired guy; he could hear the _stranger danger!_ alarms ringing in his ears, almost as loud as his pounding little heart; air came in short supply to his lungs, as well, as he looked around in search of his _actual_ dad. In his panic, he couldn’t see him anywhere.

Woojin was a big boy. He wouldn’t cry in front of a stranger because he couldn’t find his dad.

Except he did, bursting into quiet sobs at first, even as the man crouched in front of him, looking concerned and speaking in an unbelievably soft voice that vaguely reminded Woojin of Minhyun; the sobs grew into full-on bawling soon, his garbled, panicky calls for his _dad, dad, daddy, you’re not dad_ getting steadily louder, his satoori the kids in kindergarten that weren’t Jihoon would always make fun of heavy in his tongue.

“Hey, little guy”, the stranger tried to soothe him, running a hand through his hair in a somewhat soothing manner; it was nothing like how his dad would do, but it worked enough to make Woojin stop screaming, a big sob coming out of his lips before he remembered he needed to breathe. “Did you come here with your dad?”, he asked, and Woojin nodded in between sobs. _That man spoke just like him_ , he realized belatedly. “Where did you last see him?”

Woojin pointed in the general direction of the fruits and vegetables section of the supermarket, his vision still too blurry with tears to make out more than what he could remember of the place; the man looked in the direction Woojin pointed, but there wasn’t really much he could do with the kid crying this much. “Listen”, he told the boy softly, “can you tell me your name? I’ll take you to the front desk so we can find your dad faster, okay?”

The boy nodded, still crying, muttering a very garbled “W-Woojin, ahjussi”, trying to find the right way to say his dad had told him not to talk to strangers but falling short of breath and feeling suddenly shy at the stranger gently holding his hand and guiding him towards the front of the supermarket. He had always been somewhat standoffish around people he barely knew, only opening up a little due to Minhyun’s undying encouragement; without his dad around, he would always grow three times shier, looking for places to hide so as to not have to interact with anyone else. Needless to say, the first days in his new school were very _difficult_ for both him and teacher Jisung, but thankfully he was patient enough to give Woojin his own time to adapt.

It was in the cereals corridor that Woojin stopped dead on his tracks, the bag of carrots barely dangling from his fingers in his effort to hold onto it. The man seemed to notice his struggle, and he stopped as well, crouching in front of Woojin again, looking concerned.

“Do you need help with that?”, and Woojin found himself nodding shyly, both hands coming to hold onto the carrots like a lifeline. Before he knew it, the stranger suddenly lifted him up in his arms, holding onto him and walking faster to the front desk; Woojin _loved it_ when he got surprise rides from his dad, but coming from a stranger, as fun as the butterflies in his stomach from the sudden movement were, it only made him scared. The stranger seemed to notice his distress, and started apologizing profusely to the still crying boy. “It’s so we’ll get there faster”, he explained, to no avail; Woojin only stopped sobbing once he was carefully placed on top of the front desk, his little feet dangling from the high surface, the man’s arm in front of him to keep him from falling.

He held on to the bag of carrots as the stranger explained the situation to the woman in customer service. He briefly paused his conversation with her to turn to Woojin, his voice never changing from calm and gentle, and ask for his dad’s name, which would have made Woojin do a double take and maybe even laugh on a regular day; he often forgot his dad had a name other than _dad, daddy, appa, papa_ , and Jihoon had laughed at him more than once for forgetting his dad’s _real_ name in class.

He blinked a few times, trying his best to evoke the name his dad had taught him a few weeks ago, after Woojin told him how Jihoon had made fun of him; he’d even repeated it a few times that day, trying to memorize it as best as he could. “It’s—It’s Min-Minyeon”, he stuttered out, the word still foreign to his tongue, but the stranger seemed to understand, carefully repeating it to the woman. “You’re gonna call him on the intercom?”, he asked her a moment later, and Woojin turned to look at the woman curiously just as she nodded at the stranger, sending Woojin a reassuring smile when she noticed him staring.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find your daddy”, she said, tone just as gentle as the man’s, and all Woojin could do was nod, too scared to speak and too shy to properly interact.

They waited a little more while the customer service lady called the intercom announcer to relay the message; Woojin calmed himself down by watching his legs dangle from the border of the desk, while the stranger carefully watched him.

“Woojin-ah, are you from Busan, too?”

That question made Woojin quickly look away from his feet and up to the stranger’s face; upon better inspection, he did not seem as evil as Woojin had initially thought him to be, when he first got scared from holding the wrong person’s hand. He even looked… _nice_ , kind of like a fairy prince (everyone agreed in his class that the fairy king would be teacher Jisung, of course), because he had pink hair and a very kind smile.

“H-how do you know that?”, Woojin stammered back, immediately realizing his barely-concealed accent was much thicker now and clamping a hand over his mouth; when the man laughed, he sheepishly took off his hand, half smiling as well.

“You talk just like me”, the man replied, letting out a laugh, letting his accent slip as well. Woojin was still a little too distressed to laugh as well (when were they going to call his dad?, he wondered), but it felt nice to talk to someone who also spoke like him and his dad when they were alone (they had been practicing the Seoul accent whenever they went outside; needless to say, it mostly ended in laughter when Woojin tripped on his own words a little too much). “It’s a nice accent. You shouldn’t feel ashamed of it.”

The telltale ringing noise of the intercom cut that conversation short; both child and adult looked up at the ceiling, as if looking for the source of the sound, as the announcement went on.

_Customer announcement. We have found a little boy, who tells us his name is Woojin, and that he’s here with his father Minyeon today. If you are with Woojin, please come to the front desk. He’s holding a bag of carrots._

The stranger laughed at the last part; Woojin did not quite understand what was funny about it, he wanted his dad and he wanted him _now_. “Don’t worry”, the pink-haired man reassured the boy, still smiling from his fit of laughter, “he’ll come soon, I’m sure.”

“Woojinie!”

He was right; only a few moments after the announcement was made, a frazzled suited figure was seen running towards the front desk, his dark hair sticking out everywhere, a bag of mandarins in hand that he quickly dropped the moment he saw Woojin.

Woojin was lucky the other man was still holding on to him, because as soon as he recognized the running figure as his dad, he immediately tried to throw himself off the counter, only to be held in place by the man’s arm. He then carefully put the boy down on the floor, watching as he nearly tripped on his own tiny legs while running towards his father, who promptly picked him up once he reached him, genuine distress on his face as he held his son tightly.

“God, Woojin, I was so worried—where did you run off to?”, Minhyun asked him, slipping into satoori and nuzzling into his son’s hair, then kissing his temples and his cheeks in relief; Woojin could only cry, equally relieved and happy to finally see his dad. “I’m so sorry, honey, I shouldn’t have gotten distracted—I’ll make up to you, okay?”

Woojin nodded, quietly promising the same. He would never try magic again.

Minhyun soon let him go, but he still clung to his dad’s leg, not letting go even when Minhyun bowed profusely to the stranger, still looking a bit like a madman, but much calmer than when he came running towards the front desk.

“Thank you so much for taking care of him”, his dad said to the man, a little out of breath; the pink-haired stranger only smiled, seemingly suppressing the urge to chuckle. He bowed again. “I am so sorry for inconveniencing you—”

“It’s no problem”, the man replied good-naturedly, stepping closer to crouch and quickly ruffle Woojin’s hair before standing again to face his dad. “I’m sorry for startling him, I’m not really—used to kids—”

Minhyun smiled at him, still immensely grateful (and very much in distress from almost losing his son in a supermarket). “Please don’t worry about that, you did so much for him—for us. I’m thankful it was someone as kind as you who found him, I wouldn’t have known what to do if—”

“Please”, the stranger replied, scratching at the back of his head; Woojin noticed his face was turning as pink as his hair, and wondered why his dad seemed to have that effect on so many people (teacher Jisung even stuttered the first time he met his dad! That was so weird, teacher Jisung was so good with his words). “I just did what any decent person would do.”

Woojin looked up at his dad, watching him smile and shake his head, and suddenly Minhyun hoisted him up in the air to carry him on his arms again. “Still… thank you… uh…”

There was a brief moment of silence, where his dad stared expectantly at the stranger, as if waiting for something from him; the man took a beat longer to pick up on what it was before laughing and running a hand through his hair again. “A-ah, the name’s Kang Euigeon.”

Minhyun’s smile faltered a bit, but Woojin wasn’t really paying attention; he had forgotten the carrots on the front desk! Wasn’t his dad holding mandarins, too? Ah, he wanted a mandarin now…

“A-ah, thank you again, Eui—Eugi—”

“ _Euigeon_ ”, the man repeated, his smile also faltering, and he held up a hand before Minhyun tried to say his name again. “You’re welcome, Minyeon-ssi.”

“Actually—it’s Minhyun”, his dad pointed out quietly; silence fell heavily upon them before both adults burst into laughter.

Woojin shrugged as the adults stared fondly at each other after their mishap; he poked at his dad’s chest, a little impatiently, and muttered “daddy, I’m hungry”, which seemed to bring Minhyun back to reality and back to paying attention to him instead of the pink-haired guy who looked like Apeach—oh!

He wasn’t a fairy prince—he was Apeach! Wow, he had no idea Apeach was from Busan, too.

“Daddy”, he asked Minhyun, frowning and pointing at Euigeon, “is that ahjussi Apeach?”

Minhyun tensed up and looked at Euigeon, hesitant; once Euigeon laughed at the question, he sagged a little in relief, but still sent a stern look to his son. “He’s not Apeach, Woojinie—”

“It’s okay, I get that a lot from kids”, Euigeon reassured Minhyun once again; he then grabbed at the bag of carrots on the front desk and handed it to Minhyun. “These are yours, I suppose.” Minhyun nodded and took the bag, his eyes widening when he seemed to remember the mandarins, currently being held by one of the supermarket packers, who was awkwardly waiting for that conversation to be over to hand them over to Minhyun.

Woojin was curious, now, about the pink-haired uncle that had helped him, but sadly their conversation came to an end when his dad realized he had left their cart unattended. He bowed one last time to Euigeon, taking Woojin by surprise at his sudden movement, and they said their goodbyes, going separate ways afterwards, the bag of carrots safely nestled on Woojin’s arms again.

His odd fascination with the Apeach uncle lasted a few more days before both he and Minhyun fully forgot about the episode; it wasn’t like they would meet again in such a big city, Woojin started to realize.

Besides, neither Jihoon nor Hyungseob believed in him when he told them he met a pink-haired uncle after trying magic; Hyungseob did manage to convince them he had successfully transformed his dog into a dragon, though.


	2. dance teacher apeach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for taking so long to finish this chapter oh my god............ it was a long and dull journey but now i've set things in motion to finally finish the third (the tragic part is that i had more things ready for chapter 3 than for chapter 2... that's why it took me so long)
> 
> also: thank you so much for your comments!! i know i'm very (very) slow to reply to them but i cherish each and every comment this silly not-so-little fic has gotten so far; thank you for your patience and for sticking with me even though it took me so long to write all of this ;_;
> 
> i'm hoping this update was worth the wait but... please don't have any high expectations jfdghff

The incident in the supermarket was seldom brought up in the Hwang household; on occasion, either Woojin or Minhyun would have fun reminiscing about the _bag of carrots_ and _Apeach man_ , but it never went much beyond light joking over what happened once Woojin got over the initial scare.

As the years went by, they steadily forgot about it; bigger, more distressing things had happened in the meantime, such as Woojin’s first (and only) skating accident (the skateboard laid abandoned on a corner of their apartment forever after that one attempt gone bad; no one wanted another broken finger, or _worse_ , a broken limb), the Treehouse Incident with Daehwi (Woojin might have become a little afraid of heights after that one), or even that one time when Woojin thought it would be a good idea to play football indoors and ended up breaking the TV and almost killing the neighbor’s cat ( _it’s better not to ask how it happened_ , Minhyun would always say when one of his friends asked about the dent on the wall behind the new TV). Woojin was a good kid, but, like every good kid, he had his own share of mischief and lack of common sense. Minhyun, ever the understanding father, tried not to be too harsh when those accidents happened. He knew his son, after all, and the good always surpassed the bad by a mile.

(he did ground Woojin for a week after the football incident, though)

It was not until six years later that they revisited the supermarket incident.

It all started with Park Jihoon. Not exactly because he was the actual instigator of anything (other than _discord and chaos_ , some of Woojin’s classmates would argue; Woojin still thought he was alright, despite feeling like throwing hands whenever he pulled his stupid _jeojang_ act that the girls seemed to love, for some reason), but because he was Woojin’s close friend, and close friends do things together, right?

“Jihoon’s taking dance classes”, Woojin told his dad casually during breakfast one day. Minhyun looked up from his toast, after almost biting his phone when he mistook it for food (he might be overworking himself, Woojin thought, but didn’t dare say out loud), watching his son curiously. “He said they’re fun. His teacher’s really nice, too.”

Minhyun hummed, briefly looking at his constantly buzzing phone. “Would you like to?”, he asked, swiping away at a notification, almost missing his mouth with his toast; Woojin suppressed the urge to laugh and scold his dad for his lack of attention to what he was doing.

Instead, he shrugged noncommittally, reaching for his orange juice. “I don’t know?”, he answered sincerely before hiding behind his cup. Once he was done drinking, he realized his father was staring at him, patiently waiting for a better answer. “Jihoon taught me a few things… it _does_ seem fun, but… I don’t know.”

Leaving the phone aside, Minhyun got up from his chair to kneel beside Woojin, smiling up at him. “But you’re shy and don’t want people to laugh at you?”

Woojin nodded, looking down at his now empty plate. His dad fondly ruffled his hair, speaking up again when Woojin did not verbally express his answer. “Dance schools usually offer trial classes. You can take one and see if you’ll like it. How about that?”

Minhyun got up after planting a kiss to Woojin’s temple, not really expecting an immediate answer from his son, and quickly started to put the dishes away, looking worriedly at last night’s dishes and muttering to himself about _finding time to clean up_. Woojin got up to help soon after, putting away the food and the remaining dirty dishes, only stopping to make a question do his dad. “Okay, but I’ll go to Jihoon’s school, right? I don’t really want to take classes alone.”

“Of course”, his dad replied enthusiastically, looking surprised at his decision. “When do you want to go?”

xxx

They ended up visiting the dance academy Jihoon had told Woojin about on the following week, when Minhyun had finished whatever overtaxing work he had back in the office, looking very well-rested after a full weekend of napping, pizza, and cartoons with his favorite person in the world: his son. Jihoon was already there, waiting for his friend before going to the changing room to prepare for class; Minhyun, however, told Woojin to wait until he had talked to the man at the front desk, a cheery brunette who greeted the students a little too loudly for Minhyun’s and Woojin’s tastes.

“Hey, welcome!”, the man greeted them, as well, waving at Jihoon, who just tiredly waved back. “First time here, I suppose? I would remember a face like yours.”

Woojin narrowed his eyes; the man was talking to his father, of course, _being weird_ with him, which Woojin immensely disliked; not because he was a jealous son or anything, but mostly because of how embarrassed that kind of thing made his dad look and act.

“Ah, well, I—", Minhyun tried to reply, looking down at Woojin in distress. The boy was about to intervene when the man at the front desk spoke up again.

“So? Adult class? You came here with your kid, so I guess it’s not.” He looked down at Woojin, who fought the urge to stick his tongue out at him. “What’s your name, buddy?”

Woojin scrunched up his nose, but still gruffly introduced himself to the man. “Hwang Woojin.”

Minhyun nodded, smiling at the man. “Yeah, it’s for him. I called the studio last week, asking about trial classes? He wants to take one today, if that’s possible.”

The front desk man beamed at them, leaving the counter and nodding at them to follow him. “Of course! Children’s class will start in a few minutes, so Woojin-ssi might want to get changed, first. Jihoonie, can you take him to the changing rooms, please?” Jihoon nodded, urging Woojin to follow him with a look, but Woojin didn’t really want to leave his dad alone with that guy just yet.

“I’m an instructor, too, you know”, the man said, offering up a hand to Minhyun. “Ong Seongwoo. Not Hong Seongwoo, not Gong Seongwoo, but Ong Seongwoo.”

Minhyun took up Seongwoo’s hand, stifling a laugh with the other. “That’s a very uncommon name. I’m Hwang Minhyun. Are you going to be teaching my son?”

Seongwoo shook his head; for a moment, Woojin almost felt bad for feeling so relieved, and Jihoon had to stifle a laugh at how obviously bothered his friend was by the instructor. “Oh, no, I teach the adults. His teacher’s name is Kang Daniel.”

“Oh, a foreigner?”, Minhyun asked curiously, sending a look to Woojin when neither him or Jihoon moved from their spot.

“Nah”, Seongwoo replied, rolling his eyes. “Belated legal name change because no one even knew how to _spell_ his actual name, or something. I swear he’s a good guy, though.”

His dad laughed pleasantly at Seongwoo’s antics, nodding in understanding. “I see.” He then looked again at Woojin and Jihoon. “Woojinie, do you want me to stay and watch?”

Woojin immediately shook his head vigorously, the mere _thought_ of having his dad watch him dance in front of Jihoon and a bunch of unknown kids sending shivers down his spine. “Nah, I’m good.”

Minhyun seemed a little taken aback by his answer (disappointed, even?, but what could Woojin do, he was a _grown up_ now. A ten-year-old grown up, but still), but he accepted his rejection graciously. “Alright, then, I’ll come pick you up once your class is over. Don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything!”

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes and enter _ugh, dad_ mode, Woojin only nodded and finally followed Jihoon to the changing room.

“Teacher Ong is a little weird, but he’s funny”, Jihoon tried to defend the man once they started changing out of their school uniforms and into sweatpants and t-shirts.

“He was weird to my dad, though”, Woojin retorted, pulling at his pant leg. Jihoon laughed and he sent him a glare. “Hey, you know my dad hates it when people are weird with him!”

“I know”, Jihoon said casually, “it’s just funny when it bothers you, too.”

Woojin glared at him, but decided against retaliating; Jihoon did have a point, he was always insufferable to most of the people who tried to chat up his father, aware of his discomfort with the situation and eager to show his disapproval so Minhyun would feel more confident in his rejection of that person's advances.

Once they finished getting ready, Jihoon eagerly led the younger to their practice room; a few other children around their age were already there, some stretching on the bar, others rehearsing steps in front of the wide wall mirrors; Woojin wondered how brave they had to be to risk making mistakes in front of the others like that, and the mere thought of having to do same in a few minutes almost made him sprint out of the room.

Thankfully, Jihoon noticed his distress.

"Hey, it's okay", he reassured Woojin, pulling him by the sleeve towards the center of the room, keeping a safe distance from those warming up. "We're here to learn, no one's gonna judge you for being a beginner. Teacher Daniel's very nice, too, he'll tell you the same."

"I-I'm not sure if I can do it, though”, Woojin replied just as a tall and cheery dirty blonde man entered the room, beaming at the other kids and even high fiving the one who ran up to him excitedly.

“Am I late?”, the man asked, chuckling as he watched two girls finish their warm-up exercises. “Everyone got started without me, it seems. Nice split, Haknyeon-ya.”

The boy, who Woojin assumed was Haknyeon, grinned proudly at the man, who continued to walk around the studio, complimenting a few of the children and stopping by to help others with their exercises. By Woojin’s side, Jihoon had already started his own warm-up, poking his friend none too gently to try and get him to do the same. Woojin was still at a loss on what to do, though, and resigned himself to watching Jihoon’s movements, trying to imitate him when he could.

When the man stopped by to watch them, he cheerfully ruffled Jihoon’s hair before turning his attention to Woojin. Jihoon grumbled in mock annoyance; he seemed more pleased at the gesture than annoyed, Woojin noticed.

The man frowned; Woojin suddenly felt the urge to run out of the room. Adults frowning at him were never a good sign.

He soon smiled at him again, however, briefly turning to Jihoon. “Is that the friend you said you’d bring over?”

“Yeah, teacher”, Jihoon answered. “That’s Woojinie!”, he added in that mock cute voice that usually made Woojin want to fight him.

“Nice to meet you, Woojin-ssi”, the teacher greeted him, offering his hand, much like the _Gong_ teacher had done to his dad earlier. “I’m teacher Daniel. I hope you’ll have a good time here today!”

Woojin swallowed nervously; Daniel, however, was quick to notice his distress, and soon he was kneeling down beside the younger, putting a gentle encouraging hand on his shoulder. “Hey, let’s start out slowly, okay? You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, in here, if you’re feeling shy. We’ll go through the basics first, okay?”

He flashed a smile at Woojin and leaned closer, as if he were about to tell him a secret. “Believe me, _everyone_ in here started from zero. You don’t have to be ashamed of making mistakes in front of us, we’ve all been there.”

From the corner of his eyes, Woojin glanced at Jihoon, who mouthed at him _I told you_ before resuming his warm-up. He looked at teacher Daniel again and nodded hesitantly. “I’ll—I’ll do my best.”

Teacher Daniel beamed at him. “Great!” He got up and turned around to face the other students, who stopped what they were doing when he clapped his hands together, the noise calling their attention. “Guys, we have a new classmate today. Everyone, please welcome Jihoonie’s friend Woojin!”

The other kids smiled and waved at Woojin; they were nice enough, he figured as class started and Daniel and Jihoon gently guided him through basic dance steps, encouraging him when he had trouble and praising him once he figured them out and mimicked what they were doing to near perfection. Woojin was surprisingly fast to pick up Daniel’s lessons; he did enjoy playing sports in school, after all. Catching up with Jihoon was no problem for him, as he rarely tired himself out from playing; his dad would often comment on how Woojin was his _quiet little ball of energy_.

Halfway through class, teacher Daniel offered to do a demonstration of whichever dance style Woojin wanted (Jihoon whispered _b-boying_ in his ear and he immediately repeated out loud; sometime great minds _did_ think alike), promptly occupying the center of the room while the other students sat down in a circle to watch.

Teacher Daniel was an _amazing_ dancer, Woojin could tell as he watched the man spin on the floor, fueled on by the high-pitched cheers of the children around him; by Woojin’s side, Jihoon also cheered just as loudly; their teacher barely seemed to touch the floor when spinning, and the feeling of excitement only grew within Woojin while watching his acrobatics; _maybe I can do it too, one day_ , he thought, a smile unconsciously forming on his face.

Once the teacher finished his demonstration, the other kids erupted in cheers; Daniel smiled sheepishly before urging them to stand up and resume practice.

Before Woojin knew it, class was approaching its end. Teacher Daniel made a few more rounds before gathering everyone up for an impromptu dance battle; the only rules were that no one would be forced to participate if they didn’t want to. Woojin sat that one out, deciding instead to watch his classmates walk up to the center of the class and try to out-dance each other, sometimes with skill demonstrations or just through hilarious dance moves. Woojin wasn’t sure which he had liked best, by the end of the battle.

Teacher Daniel gently pulled him aside when the students started leaving the studio. “Woojin-ssi,”, he called him quietly, so as to not call the others’ attention. Woojin appreciated it that he had seemed to pick up quickly on his shyness. “Did you like it?”

Woojin nodded, not really needing much time to think about it. He still felt a little intimidated to dance in front of strangers, even with Jihoon around, but watching his teacher dance and his classmates participate in the battle was very exciting; he could only hope he would be like them, one day.

“So does that mean we’ll see you next week?”, Daniel asked, beaming at him ( _teacher Daniel smiles a lot_ , Woojin thought, a little disconcerted). Woojin tentatively nodded again, frowning when his teacher openly laughed, a full toothy smile on his face.

His buckteeth reminded Woojin of something, but he just couldn’t put his finger on _what_ , exactly.

“Say, Woojin-ah”, Daniel spoke up again, his smile fading a little. “You never took dancing classes before? Really?” Woojin shook his head; Daniel squinted at him, putting a hand to his chin in thought. “Well, I can tell you’ll be very good at this then. But it’s strange… I have a feeling I’ve seen you before.”

“Woojinie!”, a familiar voice called from outside the studio. His dad. Daniel laughed and tapped on Woojin’s shoulder. “Ah, are your parents outside? I held you up, I’m sorry.”

“My dad”, Woojin corrected him a little gruffly, but not unkindly.

Someone knocked on the door; moments later, his father peeked from the gap, smiling when he found Woojin. “Ah, there you are. Seongwoo-ssi told me this was your... _classroom_.”

Woojin smiled and ran up to him; teacher Daniel stood where he was, dumbstruck. Minhyun muttered an _excuse me_ before walking into the studio, looking around curiously.

“How was class”, he asked Woojin, who suddenly seemed to turn into another person, much more comfortable now that his father was there.

“It was _awesome_ , dad”, he said, not yet noticing how his teacher had gone oddly quiet. “I learned the basics of b-boying, and the teacher even showed me some steps of popping”, he babbled on, “I want to learn every style, dad—”

He went on, finally at ease to express _how_ , exactly, he had felt about the class. Minhyun listened intently to him, looking at his son with the fondest of smiles on his face, until he noticed the man standing in the room. He gently ruffled Woojin’s hair before turning his attention to the teacher; Woojin noticed what he was going to do and quieted down momentarily.

“You must be teacher Daniel, right?”, Minhyun asked, walking towards him and offering his hand. “I’m Woojin’s dad, Hwang Minhyun. I assume he’ll be seeing you for quite a while now, if his excitement about today’s class is anything to go by. I hope it wasn’t much of a hassle to teach a beginner along with your other students.”

“I—uh”, teacher Daniel replied quite eloquently, and for a moment Woojin feared he would be _weird_ to his dad right away. He tended to cause that on people when he was too friendly. “Not at all”, he seemed to recover, “Woojin is a great kid! And a very fast learner.”

Minhyun shot Woojin a proud smile, and the boy flushed with pride. “I knew he had it in him”, he said, ruffling Woojin’s hair one more time, not seeming to notice teacher Daniel staring intently at him, an almost-frown on his face. “We’ll be going, now. We still have to make dinner and finish your homework, right, Woojinie?”

“Yeah…”, Woojin agreed sheepishly, following his father when he made to leave the studio. “I’ll see you next week, teacher—”

“Wait!”, Daniel called for them as Minhyun opened the door; Woojin looked at him curiously. “I just… I just realized where I remember you from, Woojin.”

He smiled, as if reminiscing something funny. Minhyun turned to him, tilting his head, almost as curious as his son. “You’ve met Woojinie before?”

“Both of you”, Daniel corrects him cheerfully. “A few years ago, which is why I didn’t recognize Woojin right away. But when I saw you… You probably won’t remember me, I looked very different back then. I… remember little Woojin grabbing my hand at the supermarket and realizing he got lost. I took him to the front desk to call you, remember that?”

Minhyun frowned in confusion. “I’m not sure I remember that incident.”

Woojin did; suddenly, Daniel’s smile finally made sense to him. “ _Apeach ahjussi!_ ”, he exclaimed before he could contain himself, immediately clamping his hand over his mouth in embarrassment.

Daniel let out a loud laugh, nodding at them. “Yeah, I remember that nickname, too. I also went by my, uh, _old_ name. It’s a difficult one to remember, it’s okay.”

Minhyun’s frown deepened; he crossed his arms in thought. “No, I—I honestly don’t remember, Daniel-ssi. When did that happen?”

Woojin subtly pulled at his father’s jacket, speaking quietly. “That time I got lost, dad. On the supermarket. I don’t remember much of it myself, but I do remember, uh…”

“Apeach ahjussi?”, Daniel completed his sentence for him, amusement coloring his voice. Woojin ducked his head and muttered an apology. “Don’t worry, I liked the nickname!” He then looked at Minhyun, trying to help him remember. “I had pink hair back then.”

“I… I honestly don’t remember, I’m sorry”, Minhyun replied apologetically, running a hand through his hair in distress. “Maybe I just deleted the entire situation off my mind? It seems like it was a scary moment for Woojin.”

Woojin rolled his eyes in amusement. “Maybe you’re just getting too old, dad.”

Minhyun barked out a laugh, glaring at his son in mock indignance. “Didn’t I teach you to respect your elders, Hwang Woojin?”

“Maybe you forgot to do that, too”, Woojin retorted cheekily. “But really, dad, I remember him.”

“If you say you do, I’ll believe in you two”, his dad decided, shrugging. Woojin beamed at him then looked over at his Apeach-ahjussi-turned-teacher, whose smile wasn’t as bright as before; was he disappointed?

“I’ll really see you next week, then, Woojin?”, Daniel asked, changing the subject. Woojin figured he didn’t want to keep them from going home any longer.

“Yeah”, he nodded, a little more comfortable with speaking, now. “Thank you, teacher.”

“You can call me _teacher Apeach_ , if you want”, Daniel replied teasingly. Woojin laughed and ducked his head; Minhyun laughed, as well.

 _Teacher Apeach_ was a pretty cool guy, after all.

xxx

"Woojinie's taking dance classes", Minhyun cheerily announced to the others on the table while helping Aron serve dinner. "His teacher says he's very good at freestyling and… b-boying, it’s called?" He then looked at Woojin for confirmation, and the boy promptly nodded.

Jonghyun looked up, smiling at both him and Woojin; Woojin ducked his head, suddenly shy about his dad's announcement. "He is? Are you enjoying your classes, Woojinie?", he asked, chuckling when Woojin nodded again a little too quickly. "I'm glad. I used to dance, too, did your dad tell you that?"

Minki huffed, rolling his eyes. "Don't try your embarrassing old uncle dance moves in front of the kids, Jonghyun, they won't want to associate with you anymore if you do."

The other adults laughed; Jonghyun shrugged, unaffected. “I was _amazing_ back then and I can prove it—”

Little Sungyeon was quick to shut her dad down. “Please don’t”, she said, pinching the bridge of her nose, mirroring her other dad on Jonghyun’s other side.

“See?”, retorted Minki, playfully poking at Jonghyun’s side, “embarrassing.”

It was Jonghyun’s turn to roll his eyes. “You’re no fun.”

Still, Woojin was curious; however, as he was about to ask uncle Jonghyun about his dance moves, Sungyeon shot him a glare that had him immediately quiet down.

Minhyun let out a pleasant laugh at his friends’ antics before taking off Dongho’s borrowed apron and sitting down by Woojin’s side. Having dinner together on Fridays had been a little tradition of their extended but unofficial family in Seoul for years, now; they would usually meet up at Dongho’s or Minhyun’s house after work, make food together and let their children play around while they talked and caught up with each other’s lives. Woojin liked Fridays the most, not because of the weekends but because he got to spend time together with his favorite people.

(and Daehwi)

(of course, Daehwi _was_ part of his favorite people, and Woojin loved him to death, but sometimes he was a little too bossy for his age, and he really had a penchant for ordering Woojin around)

“So”, Dongho started once the dinner table became a little too quiet, “where’s Woojin taking his dance classes? Daehwi wanted to learn dance, too, but his schedule’s packed this semester already.”

“It’s a dance academy near his school”, Minhyun replied while chewing on a mouthful of japchae (nothing could really stop his father from talking when he really wanted to, Woojin knew). “They have classes for children, there, and the teachers are very nice. It was recommended to us by a friend of Woojinie’s, they take classes together.”

“I wanna have classes with Woojin hyung, too”, Daehwi pouted.

Dongho cooed at him and ruffled his hair. “Maybe next year.”

“Daehwi would like it in there, but I think he’s still a little too young for Woojin’s class”, Minhyun said, his mouth full again. “Woojin has been making a lot of friends there, too.”

“And don’t you think of taking a few dance classes, too?”, Minki chimed in. “You could do with a few lessons and some new people.”

Minhyun raised an eyebrow at his friend. “Are you telling me I should ditch you guys to find new friends?”

“No”, Minki shook his head, amused. “Not new friends. New _people_. Hell knows how much you need to get your head out of your work’s ass—“

“Language, Minki”, Jonghyun warned him lightly, gesturing towards the kids on the table.

“—Anyway”, Minki continued, unaffected, “what I’m saying is—it’s been too long since you’ve last talked to anyone who wasn’t us or a coworker. When was the last time you even went on a date?”

Minhyun frowned at his friend, gesturing discreetly towards Woojin with his head (Woojin noticed, of course). “Minki. I’m okay. I don’t really… need anything else. Or anyone, for that matter.”

It was Dongho’s turn to raise an eyebrow at him. “That’s cute and all”, he said, poking at his food, “but Minki has a point, here. What do you even do when you’re not working? You don’t ever seem to _stop_.”

“I spend time with Woojin, of course”, Minhyun promptly answered, and Woojin felt tempted to agree with him, but he knew better than to get involved in the adults’ talk. Besides, his dad had been dropping him at either Jihoon’s or uncle Dongho’s house to stay the night or wait until his overtime hours were over more often than usual, and as much as Woojin understood it was something Minhyun _had_ to do, he couldn’t help but feel a little upset at the half-truth.

“You mean you spend time with Woojin _and_ your home office”, Dongho retorted. “Come on, live a little.”

Minhyun frowned. “I’m _not_ interested in taking dance classes, thank you.”

“Not even in meeting new people?”, Minki asked, looking genuinely concerned; when Minhyun shook his head and looked away, his face contorted into a frown. His voice softened. “Minhyun, you can’t… spend the rest of your life in mourning, you know.”

“I’m not”, Minhyun repeated, sounding uncertain. “I’m just… not ready to leave my comfort zone, yet?”

“Minhyun”, Jonghyun called him, voice just as soft as Minki’s. “You haven’t left your comfort zone in almost ten years.”

“I have!”, Minhyun protested. “We did move away from Busan, didn’t we?”

Jonghyun sighed. “That’s not what we meant, but”, he glanced at the kids, who by then looked terribly interested, albeit confused, in the conversation. “… Never mind. Just… consider that maybe it’s about time you moved on, don’t you think?”

Minhyun did not respond, shooting Woojin a quick glance before he resumed eating.

Later, when the adults were busy doing the dishes and the kids were shooed to the living room to play, Woojin sneaked as closely to the kitchen as he could, too curious for his own good.

“Okay, but”, Minki’s voice echoed, “is his teacher hot? I’ve heard dance instructors have very nice bodies—”

“ _Minki_ ”, Minhyun’s voice warned him. “I wouldn’t know? I didn’t pay attention to that.”

“Bullshit”, Minki replied sounding annoyed. “Everyone pays attention.”

Minhyun made an irritated noise; Jonghyun’s and Aron’s laugh also echoed from the kitchen. “He’s… handsome, I guess? Both the teachers in charge, they’re not… hard on the eyes.”

Minki laughed. “Oooh, that’s a start!”, he replied cheerily, not losing his good humor even when Jonghyun lightly scolded him for teasing Minhyun.

“Don’t be silly”, Minhyun grumbled; Woojin wondered if he should intervene to save his dad from that conversation. “I don’t even know what you’re trying to imply, here.”

“Nothing”, Minki replied earnestly. “I’m just happy to see you still have the ability to find people attractive.”

Woojin swore he could _hear_ his father rolling his eyes. The adults fell into silence again and he decided it would be better to go back to Daehwi and the girls before Daehwi found him and made a fuss out of his eavesdropping.

xxx

“I think my dad needs a girlfriend”, Woojin started, tone and face set on serious. Walking by his side, Youngmin, an older friend from Woojin’s early school days who was now attending middle school, listened to him attentively. “I mean, he’s got me and my uncles and he _does_ work a lot, but… I don’t know, I guess it would be nice if he had someone else like my mom was to him.”

Youngmin hummed in thought. They had recently found out that they were taking dance classes in the same dance academy, and Minhyun, busy with work as it was, had asked Youngmin to talk Woojin and Jihoon from school to dance class when he couldn’t. Youngmin, ever the kind boy that he was, complied immediately. “Maybe you’re right, Woojin-ah”, he said after a while. “He never had a girlfriend after…”

“Not after mom, no”, Woojin replied when Youngmin’s voice faded. “He doesn’t like it when people… are _weird_ with him.”

“That’s called _flirting_ , dummy”, Jihoon cheekily corrected him. “He doesn’t like it because _you_ don’t like it.”

Woojin scowled at his friend. “I don’t like it because _he_ doesn’t like it!!”, he protested. “It can’t be my fault he hasn’t… dated anyone, can it?”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “Woojin, your dad would do _anything_ for you. Of course it’s your fault.”

“Jihoon”, Youngmin warned him lightly before turning his head to face Woojin. “I think he just wants to find someone you would approve of. Is there anyone you would that you know he likes?”

Woojin shrugged. “I don’t know! Hyung”, he pleaded, looking as serious as he could, “what do you usually look for in a girlfriend?”

Youngmin coughed loudly, taken aback by the question; by Woojin’s side, Jihoon cackled with laughter. Woojin frowned at his friend when he didn’t stop laughing.

“Well”, the elder said, once he regained his breath, “I’m not really experienced with girls—”

“Hyung likes boys”, Jihoon said solemnly, his face still red from laughing. Youngmin choked on air again.

“ _Jihoon_ ”, he warned him again, flustered; Woojin only stared at his hyung, not looking surprised or even taken aback.

“Okay, then, hyung, what do you usually look for in a boyfriend?”, he asked, frowning when Youngmin’s eyes turned as wide as saucers.

“You—you’re not—“, the elder stammered, visibly distressed. Jihoon rolled his eyes.

“Hyung, two of his uncles are _married with kids_ ”, he said nonchalantly. “I don’t think you’re much of a shock to Woojin.”

Youngmin stared at the two of them for a moment, momentarily interrupting their walk. “Oh.”

Woojin tilted his head to the side, a habit he had picked up from his dad, looking unfazed. “So, hyung? Can you answer my question now?”

The elder stared dumbstruck at the two kids for a moment before he burst into awkward laughter, looking relieved for once. They resumed their walk. “Ah, Woojinie, I think this is a very personal question. I could tell you what I like, but your dad might prefer a completely different person, you know. I think it’s better if you just ask him.”

“You should also ask him if he likes guys, too”, Jihoon added cheekily. “Makes it easier to find the right person if you have more options, right?”

Woojin frowned, not sure if Jihoon was making fun of him or not. “Yeah, I guess.”

Youngmin smiled fondly at him. “You’re a good kid, Woojin-ah. Your dad’s lucky to have someone as thoughtful as you as his kid.”

Woojin flushed with pride. “Thanks, hyung.”

xxx

“Dad, do you like guys?”

Joke or not, Woojin still had to give it a try; the best way he found to make his question was to be as straightforward as possible.

Minhyun’s reaction was very similar to Youngmin’s when Jihoon had revealed his secret; good thing Woojin had waited until he was done drinking his coffee to ask, or else their dinner table would have become a mess.

He sputtered on air, coughing a few times before recomposing himself and laughing, both at his scare and at the question itself. “Where did this even come from, Woojin?”, he asked, amusedly.

Woojin shrugged. “Just curious.”

Minhyun eyed him suspiciously. “Just curious? Aren’t you asking this on anyone’s behalf? If Seongwoo-ssi asked you to, I swear I’ll—”

“ _No_ , ew, dad”, Woojin interrupted him, making a face. “If that _Hong_ guy even tried, I’d—”

“Respect your elders, Woojin”, Minhyun lightly chastised him. “He’s a nice person, but if you don’t like him, then I guess—”

“Wait”, Woojin interrupted him again, “is that a yes, dad?”

Minhyun smiled innocently at his son. “A yes to what?”

Woojin frowned and repeated his question. “Do you like guys?”

His dad was no longer smiling; instead, he stared intently at Woojin, as if trying to gauge a reaction from him. When his son didn’t budge, he sighed and leaned on the table with his elbows, resigned. “I think you’re old enough to understand, now, so it’s no use to keep beating around the bush.” Woojin perked up on his chair, suddenly aware that this had turned into a serious conversation. “I have dated other men before your mother, yes”, his dad answered truthfully. “That means I like both other men and women. Like uncle Minki, for example.”

“Oh”, Woojin nodded in understanding. “So uncle Jonghyun only likes boys?”

His father nodded. “Different preferences for different people.”

Woojin decided to go for it. “And what’s your ideal type, dad?”

Minhyun frowned, eyeing his son suspiciously. “What are you trying to pull, Woojin?”, he asked, deceptively calmly.

“Nothing”, Woojin replied quickly, a little flustered. “I’m just… curious.”

“Is this Minki’s idea?”

“N-not at all, dad. I just really wanted to know.”

Minhyun crosses his arms, unconvinced. “Woojinie, don’t listen to your uncles. I’m fine like this. _We’re_ fine. I’ve been too busy with work to think about that, I’ve told you before. And I don’t wanna spend my free time with someone else when I already have so little to stay with you.”

Woojin opened his mouth, intent on protesting, but ultimately decided against it. He wanted to say that he was okay with his dad spending time with other people that weren’t him, that it was okay if he met someone and liked them, but he realized it would be lying, at that moment. His father was right: they did spend very little time together now that he was busier with his work, and giving up on that precious little time they had would be pretty much giving up on his dad altogether.

He wasn’t a jealous kid; he just felt he had been spending more time in the dance studio and at Dongho’s house than at his own home.

“Speaking of it”, Minhyun spoke up again, looking a little guilty, “I’ll have to make a business trip next weekend. You’ll be okay at Dongho’s, right?”

Woojin nodded wordlessly, pressing his lips together to hold back from saying _no, I won’t_.

Minhyun smiled a tight smile. “I’m glad. And I’m sorry, too, Woojin. I promise I’ll make up for it once this project is done.”

He stood up from the table, gathering the dirty dishes together before moving to place them on the sink. “I guess I should also answer your question”, he added as an afterthought, “I don’t really have an ideal type?” He hummed, turning on the tap to rinse the plates. “I’ve dated very different people. I loved your mother the most, though.”

Woojin scowled at his father’s back. That didn’t help much.

xxx

Teacher Daniel’s classes were now the highlight of Woojin’s weeks.

Early on, he had already started to frequent them twice a week, like Jihoon; sometimes, Minhyun would have to take him to the studio sooner than class start hours due to his busy work schedules, and teacher Daniel would let him watch the other classes. Other times, he would go with Youngmin and Jihoon right after their schools extracurricular activities, and Woojin would still stay after class during tougher days, only for Minhyun to show up looking apologetic and exhausted or for Dongho to hastily pick him up when his father couldn’t. More than once, teacher Daniel had invited Woojin to join the other classes while he waited, which he did enthusiastically, albeit a bit shyly, at first, always under his teacher’s watchful eye so as to not overwork himself.

(he wondered if teacher Daniel had picked up on his dad’s workaholic habits, and if he himself had them in him; his teacher always was extra careful when he stayed practicing late)

Dancing was quickly becoming second nature to him, his usual introversion thrown to the wind as he risked more difficult dance steps, emboldened by Daniel’s constant praise and encouragement.

The first time he joined a dance battle, everyone had rejoiced; he no longer looked like the shy and withdrawn boy from the first day, bravely facing more experienced students like Haknyeon and even Hyunmin, the only student who knew how to do backflips and liked to add impressive acrobatics to his routines. They were his friends, now, after all, and feeling comfortable around so many people at the same time felt like a huge accomplishment for him.

Sometimes, when Minhyun came to pick him up in time, he would still stay in the studio after class, oblivious to his dad’s waiting outside, and Minhyun would have to enter the studio to remind him that they needed to go home. Daniel would often laugh and apologize for getting caught up in Woojin’s extra practice, but Minhyun didn’t really mind. _It’s good to see him doing something he enjoys this much_ , he would say, _and I’m grateful that he has such a thoughtful teacher, too_.

(teacher Daniel would flush with pride, but so would Woojin; his dad was very good at complimenting people)

One day, near the end of September, Daniel had called all his students in class to form a circle before warm-up, watching them intently while they sat down to pay attention to him.

“Guys”, he called their attention once everyone was sitting “you know what time of the year it is, right?”

 _Almost Chuseok?_ , Woojin wondered quietly when a few other students started to cheer and clap in excitement.

“That’s right”, the teacher replied, smiling wide, “our school’s talent showcase is in two months! We have a lot to prepare for, and a new routine to learn. Who’s going to participate, this year?”

Most of the students lifted their hands, almost vibrating in their places. Woojin frowned, then looked at Jihoon. “Talent showcase?”, he asked, raising an eyebrow at Jihoon’s lifted arm.

Jihoon beamed and nodded at him. “Yeah! Last year’s was so good, you should have seen it. I think we should do a dance duo presentation for this year’s—”

“Who said I’ll participate? What even is this thing?”, Woojin hastily shot him down, distressed; when teacher Daniel turned to look at him and frowned, he felt even more nervous.

“It’s—It’s a talent show, dummy”, Jihoon explained, a little annoyed. “We can sign up with a song and choreo and invite our family and friends to watch, it’s pretty much like a school recital.”

“Oh”, Woojin replied, then immediately pulled at his friend’s ear. “And you didn’t invite me for yours last year because…?”

“Hey!” Jihoon protested, trying to pull away. “My grandparents were visiting. I had to give them my spare invites.”

“I see”, Woojin muttered before letting him go. “Traitor.”

Jihoon laughed. “Anyway, you’re in? We really should do something together.”

Woojin immediately shook his head. “I’m not.” He shuddered. “I don’t like to dance in front of big crowds.”

“You dance in front of our classroom for no reason every damn day”, Jihoon deadpans.

“It’s different, okay?”, the younger pouts, crossing his arms, watching warily from the corner of his eyes as Daniel slowly approached them in his rounds of talking to the other students. “I know those people and I’m not standing on a stage, for starters.”

“Stages aren’t so bad”, Jihoon shrugged.

“Says the child actor’, Woojin scowled back at him.

Teacher Daniel stopped in front of them and sat down, smiling. “Hey boys, don’t fight”, he admonished them upon noticing their expressions. “Any ideas for the showcase?”

“We were thinking of a street dance duet”, Jihoon said as Woojin simultaneously grumbled, “I’m not going to participate”. Both glared at each other while Daniel let out a small chuckle.

“Woojin-ah, why don’t you want to participate?”, he asked softly.

“Stage fright, the coward”, Jihoon answered for him before he even could speak.

Daniel sent Jihoon a serious look. “I was asking Woojin.”

Woojin didn’t really want to explain to his teacher why he felt so anxious when he had to perform in front of strangers; he had become much more confident through his classes, of course, but he hadn’t lost his shyness, much less his apprehension towards strangers. He was a naturally reserved boy, taking a bit after his father, who would only feel fully comfortable to joke around and act silly towards people once there were people he was familiar with around.

“He’s right, though”, Woojin said, ultimately. “I’m too shy, I think I’d freeze on the spot if I had to dance on stage.”

Daniel nodded in understanding. “I can’t really say I don’t understand that. I used to be just like you, you know.” He smiled gently and Woojin felt a little more reassured, but still scared. “Gaining confidence takes a while, but I do believe you’ve got it in you to do a superb performance on stage. You’ve made a lot of progress these past few months and you pick up new choreography really fast. Think about it, please.”

He stood up, still smiling at both boys. “I won’t force you to participate if you don’t want to”, he said, patting at his sweats, “but I’ll do my best to help boost your confidence. You can do it, Woojin-ah!”

Woojin smiled back at him and promised he would think about it. After he left, though, he kept on blowing off Jihoon’s persistent attempts at convincing him to participate.

( _Why are you so nice to teacher Daniel but so mean to me?_ , Jihoon had complained after getting a noogie for nagging Woojin)

xxx

Unsurprisingly, Minhyun ended up having to work during most of Chuseok, despite his promises that he would take Woojin to Busan to see his aunt and grandparents. Spending time in Dongho’s house wasn’t something Woojin hated, far from it; he had always gone to his uncle’s house whenever Minhyun was busy, and despite Daehwi sometimes annoying him, he came to see the boy as a younger brother of sorts. Uncle Dongho was an amazing person, as well, and he made sure there wasn’t a single dull moment during their holiday.

(no wonder Daehwi was that spoiled, Woojin would think to himself, his dad did whatever he wanted to do on a whim; Woojin, of course, still lacked the self-awareness to realize his own father wasn’t too different)

Minhyun came to pick him up one day before the holiday ended, too tired to make the drive all the way to Busan but intent on making up for his absence. They spent the day on their pajamas, watching cartoons and playing games together.

Woojin told his father about the talent show halfway through the day; his response was similar to teacher Daniel’s ( _you look so much more confident now, Woojinie, and I’ve yet to see you dance properly, you never let me watch your classes!_ , to which Woojin would secretly retort _well, yeah, it’s not like you’ve even had time to watch my classes_ , not daring to complain out loud. He had to be an understanding son, after all), encouraging but not coercive.

He made his final decision one the last day for sign-ups for the show; with his father late once again to pick him up, he stayed in the studio after class, practicing alone after saying goodbye to Jihoon and the others. Daniel joined him once the studio was empty, working through the routine they had just picked up to learn that week.

They kept up their teamwork; Woojin laughed once he realized they were in almost perfect synchronization and enjoying himself through the dance. He didn’t even notice his father slipping inside the studio to quietly watch as he and his teacher danced together. Once the song ended, he finally noticed Minhyun through the mirror, sitting on the floor in the back of the room and clapping excitedly at them.

These days, it was such a rare treat to see his dad earlier than expected that Woojin didn’t quite believe it was him, at first.

“Dad? How long have you been here?”, he asked nervously, dread filling the pit of his stomach for no apparent reason.

Minhyun chuckled, getting up and walking towards the duo. “Not long, not long. I did get to finally see you dancing, though. Great job!”

He brushed Woojin’s sweaty fringe away from his eyes, turning to face teacher Daniel with a smile. “He really improved a lot, huh?”

“He works hard”, Daniel replied with a mirroring smile of his own. “He could outdance me any day”, he added with a laugh.

Woojin blushed at their compliments, quickly ducking his head to hide his embarrassment. “Stop it, you two…”, he muttered, trying not to sound too happy.

“Don’t be shy!”, Minhyun encouraged him, ruffling at his hair. “You’re great at this.”

“Jihoonie still wants him to join his team for the talent show”, Daniel commented. “I told him not to push it, because Woojin should only join if he feels comfortable enough to, but I have to say… he’s more than ready to hit the stage.”

Woojin risked looking up; his dad had pride written all over his face, and Woojin suddenly felt a surge of pride, himself.

“Dad”, he called Minhyun, putting on his best serious face. “If I present myself in the showcase, are you gonna come and see me?”

Minhyun’s eyes widened in surprise. “Of course I am, Woojinie! What kind of question is this?”

“You promise?”, Woojin insisted; Daniel watched the two of them intently.

“I promise”, his dad nodded solemnly. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world.”

Woojin stared at him intently. “I’ll hold you do that.” He then turned to his teacher. “I wanna sign up. I’ll tell Jihoon I’m in his team tomorrow.”

Daniel laughed and nodded, also taken by surprise. “Are you sure? You don’t have to force yourself, you know?”

“Teacher, with all due respect”, the boy replied, sounding a lot like his father, “but if you said I can do it, then I think I can do it.”

Both adults laughed, then stared at him fondly. “That’s the spirit”, Daniel said, ruffling Woojin’s hair. “I’ll put your name on the sign-ups list. You still can change your mind if you don’t want to, we won’t force anyone to perform if they feel uncomfortable.”

“I won’t”, Woojin reassured him bravely.

xxx

Jihoon’s team, it turned out, was made of only him and Woojin, in the end. “I knew you’d come around”, he had said when Woojin told him the news of his sign-up, “and I still want my duet.”

Team _Pink Sausage_ , as they came to be known from the day Jihoon had brought them matching pink sweats to wear in class, practiced hard; Jihoon had started staying with Woojin after classes while he waited for Minhyun, after asking his parents to come pick him up later. Daniel, ever the indulgent teacher, would stay with whoever decided to extend practice after class. The Pink Sausages weren’t the only ones; excitement over the showcase made everyone want to work a little harder, and soon they learned to practice in front of patient parents who would come to pick up their children only to find themselves sitting down in the back of the room watching their children dance.

It was good practice for Woojin, learning how to not feel nervous dancing in front of strangers. Teacher Daniel would constantly offer advice on how to deal with the audience and breathing exercises to ease anxiety. He wasn’t lying when he said he had experienced the same before, and Woojin felt grateful he had someone understanding enough of his own troubles teaching him.

(Jihoon, on the other hand, was almost as impatient as Daehwi, but Woojin was used to tuning him out when he was too unbearable)

Not much changed for Woojin during practice months; Minhyun had taken up more work than ever and would always come in late to pick him up; Dongho was already on friendly terms with teachers Daniel and Ong, by now, after having to come for Woojin on so many days. The change Woojin hated the most, however, was his father’s absence during Friday dinners. Daehwi and the girls had tried to compensate by giving Woojin a lot of attention and even letting him have their share of dessert sometimes, trying to ease the frown off his face. Uncle Dongho was fun and all, but Woojin could tell he was also getting tired of this situation. He only hoped he wasn’t annoying him by staying over all the time.

( _Of course you’re not_ , Dongho had reassured him during a particularly stressing night, when he voiced these thoughts out loud, _we love having you around. It’s your dad that we gotta fight._

He couldn’t really disagree with that, by then.)

The days before the showcase were the worst; Minhyun was barely home, by then, and Woojin had pretty much made himself at home on the spare mattress in Daehwi’s room for the time being. The day his dad had actually managed to pick him up and take him home, Woojin decided to take action.

“Dad”, he called from the other side of the table, glaring at the amount of paperwork that littered it; Minhyun had never been this careless about his workspace before. “Hey, dad”, he tried again when he got no response.

“What”, Minhyun replied dryly; Woojin’s eyes widened at his tone, and Minhyun quickly caught himself. “Sorry, honey. What is it?”, he asked again, this time softer.

“I… I just wanted to ask if you remember the showcase”, Woojin stammered out, still a bit shaken from his dad’s bad mood. “It’s next week, you know.”

Minhyun looked up from his paperwork. “Next week? Already?”, he asked incredulously, frowning back at the papers in front of him. “Wow, time passed really fast since Chuseok!”

 _You tell me_ , Woojin wanted to retort, but he didn’t. He was understanding of his dad’s situation, he told himself for what felt like the millionth time that week.

“You’re still coming, right?”, Woojin asked tentatively, trying to catch his dad’s eyes, which kept darting down to the papers.

“Of course”, Minhyun said, a little distractedly. “I promised you, didn’t I?”

“You also promised you’d come for last week’s dinner”, Woojin reminded him not so gently. “But you didn’t come.”

Minhyun sighed and let go of his pen, reaching out to grab Woojin’s hands over the table. “I know. But that was… different. We’ll always have next week, right? I wouldn’t miss out on a one-time opportunity like your presentation for anything.”

Woojin wasn’t fully convinced, but he squeezed back his dad’s hands anyway. “I’ll hold you to that”, he repeated, hoping he wouldn’t be right about the dread feeling in his gut.

xxx

Woojin peeked out between the curtains one more time.

“He’s not here yet”, he muttered to Jihoon, squeezing the thick fabric in his hands. “It starts in ten minutes and he’s not here.”

Jihoon pushed Woojin down to also peek at the curtains, shoving his head under his chin, scanning the crowd taking their seats in the large auditorium the academy had rented for the showcase. Most of the students, adults and children alike, had signed up to participate, and the venue was getting quite crowded.

True to their team name, they settled for the pink track suits as their outfits for their performance.

“I can’t even find my _mom_ here”, Jihoon retorted, then interrupted himself. “Wait, no—never mind, she got front row seats again. Maybe your dad’s at the back?”

“Why would he?”, Woojin asked indignantly, “when all my uncles are there, in the third row? There’s even an—an empty seat there.” His voice was steadily becoming more frantic. “He forgot, Jihoon, I knew he would forget—”

“What are you boys doing here?”, an adult voice asked behind them, startling both. Woojin knocked his head on Jihoon’s chin and both groaned in pain; when they turned around, they found Daniel, looking at them with amusement in his eyes. “Everything okay?”

Jihoon only groaned in response; Woojin looked around nervously before leaning closer to Daniel to whisper, “I think my dad forgot about today.”

Daniel frowned and shook his head. “No, he would never. I know he has been busy with work lately, but I don’t think he would forget about something like this, Woojin-ah.”

“What if he did, though?”, Woojin asked, growing frantic. “I wanted him to see me dance, but what if he won’t make it?”

Jihoon watched his best friend at a loss of what to do; Daniel, however, acted quickly before it could get any worse. “Look, he’ll make it, okay? And if he doesn’t, I know for a fact that your uncle Dongho is gonna film the whole thing. He’ll still see you, one way or another.”

“It’s not the same”, Woojin muttered, clenching his fists. “Who am I gonna look at so I won’t feel nervous about everyone watching me?”

Daniel placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “I promise you, he’s coming”, he said, squeezing his shoulders lightly. “He’ll see your full presentation. Give him some time, we haven’t started yet and your performance’s gonna take a while to come. I’ll go down to the audience when it’s your turn. You can look at me instead of the crowd, if it makes you feel better. Is that okay?”

Woojin hesitated; teacher Daniel wasn’t quite the same as his father, but he still was one of the people Woojin trusted the most; he could work with that.

“Okay”, he said at last; by his side, Jihoon sighed loudly in relief.

Teacher Ong, clad in an all-black suit, as he would do the honors of presenting the show, soon walked in to shoo everyone off the stage area; the showcase was about to start.

The children class presentations came first; everything went by smoothly, even Hyunmin’s risky acrobatics (he had promised teacher Daniel he wouldn’t try anything funny, but he did anyway; he was in for a good scolding, but Woojin knew he thought all the cheers and impressed applause made it worth it), and Team Pink Sausage’s turn came all too soon.

They had managed to get a good laugh out of teacher Ong and the audience when he announced their performance, but even that wasn’t enough to soothe Woojin’s nerves. Teacher Daniel was at a front seat, as he had promised, but a quick look up to the rows behind it told Woojin his father either wasn’t there yet or was very well-hidden by the dim light on the audience.

Jihoon looked at him for reassurance and he nodded, glancing at Daniel before getting into position.

Woojin barely looked at teacher Daniel throughout his performance, so absorbed in the routine and the song he even forgot he was performing in front of a full audience, his full focus on the beat and on Jihoon’s movements beside him. the crowd cheered at one point, during the _cute move_ Jihoon had insisted they added into the routine, a quick hand motion of making a frame with their thumbs and forefingers to, in Jihoon’s words, _capture the audience’s hearts_. Woojin hoped he wasn’t cringing too much when they went through that part of the choreography.

Soon enough, the music ended and was replaced by loud applause; Woojin was quickly brought back into reality, feeling his heart race against his chest as he scanned the crowd, avoiding any unfamiliar faces, finding all his uncles, Daehwi, Sungyeon, Solhee—

—and his father, standing up and cheering as loudly as he could for him, his words going unheard in all the noise.

Woojin smiled and waved back at him, briefly looking at teacher Daniel, who briefly glanced behind him, at Minhyun. When he turned to face Woojin, he mouthed _I told you_ at him and continued to applaud.

Jihoon hugged him as the curtains closed, jumping up and down in excitement that everything had gone well. Woojin promptly hugged him back, relief washing over him as he realized both his father and his favorite teacher had kept their promises.

The rest of the presentations went by like a blur, their technical levels going increasingly higher as the adults came in; Woojin could only hope he would be like that, one day. When the showcase ended, the teachers allowed close relatives to come backstage to greet and pick up their children.

In the kids’ waiting room, Minhyun awaited for Woojin with two flower bouquets in hands.

“This one’s for you and Jihoon”, he said when Woojin tried to pull him into a hug, gently pushing the bouquet to his arms instead. It was a pretty bouquet, full of red and pink flowers, his and Jihoon’s favorite colors, respectively, but Woojin didn’t care much about them. He placed them in Jihoon’s arms before lunging at his father, hugging him tightly by his waist.

“I didn’t need the flowers, dad”, he muttered into Minhyun’s shirt. “I needed you. Here.”

Minhyun chuckled softly, running a hand on his son’s hair. “I’m here, Woojin.”

Woojin shook his head, fighting the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. “You almost didn’t make it.”

Minhyun grew quiet; Jihoon discreetly walked backwards towards his mom, intent on letting them have their moment.

“Woojinie, I’m so sorry”, Minhyun said quietly, pulling Woojin’s face up by his chin to look at him, his own heart breaking when he realized his son was crying. “I’m so, so sorry. I’ve been so busy, I’ve missed out on so much—”

“I miss you, dad”, Woojin quietly interrupted him between sobs. Minhyun quickly put the other bouquet aside on a dressing table to hug him back tightly.

“I—once this project is over, let’s take a vacation, what do you think? We’ll go out every day – Everland, Baskin-Robbins, we can even drive up to Busan—”

Woojin nodded, but didn’t stop crying. “Anything’s good, dad. Just… please, don’t work so much. Uncle Dongho wants to fight you, and—” he pokes at his dad’s sides, frowning when he feels more bone than flesh. “You’re not even eating properly, are you?”

Minhyun ducked his head in shame. “I—”

“Am I interrupting something?”, teacher Daniel asked quietly, laying a hand on Woojin’s shoulder. Minhyun quickly looked up, blinking a few times, the tips of his ears going red.

“Is he, Woojin?”, he asked his son, who shook his head, wiping the remainder of his tears on his father’s shirt. “He says you’re not”, Minhyun explained to Daniel, smiling softly at him.

“Good. I wanted to congratulate the two of you. That was a superb performance, Woojin-ah”, Daniel said cheerily, watching Woojin detach himself from his father to smile sheepishly at the floor. “Did you see his confidence on stage? I’ve seen people saying Team Pink Sausage was their favorite performance of the night!”

Minhyun laughed, pulling Woojin into another, happier, hug. “I’m so proud of him. He worked really hard.”

“He’s very talented, too”, Daniel added, laughing at how Woojin seemed to shrink further the more he was complimented. “I always knew you had it in you.”

Woojin caved and hid his face on his father’s shirt again. “Thanks”, he muttered, making both adults chuckle.

“Oh!’, Minhyun exclaimed, seeming to remember something, and quickly fetching the other bouquet. “These are… for you, Daniel-ssi.”

Daniel’s eyes widened as he accepted the flowers; Woojin, slowly recovering from the excessive compliments, tried to pretend not to notice how his father’s hands lingered on Daniel’s for a few seconds too long. “For me?”

Woojin risked looking up. Yep, his teacher was definitely blushing.

“As a form of thanking you”, Minhyun explained, and Woojin could swear he noticed Daniel’s face fall for a second. “For everything you’ve done to Woojin. He loves this place so much, and he’s grown so much more confident. I don’t think he would have if his teacher wasn’t such a wonderful person.”

He bowed and thanked him, in a gesture that vaguely reminded Woojin of their first supermarket encounter; apparently, it reminded Daniel, as well, who was now blushing profusely.

“Please, it was—it was nothing. Woojin-ah grew up well. If anything, it’s because of you that he’s such a good kid.”

It was Minhyun’s turn to blush. Woojin eyed the two of them suspiciously, but decided against saying or even thinking anything of it.

“Woojinie”, Minhyun called softly, looking down at him. “Say, how about we invite teacher Daniel over for dinner this week? To show him how grateful we are to him?”

Woojin nodded excitedly; he was never against having his favorite people over.

“What do you say, Daniel-ssi?”, Minhyun asked him tentatively; Daniel seemed like he was about to combust. Woojin thought he shouldn’t find it that funny.

“A-ah”, the other man stammered, running a hand through his hair in distress; Woojin’s neck was starting to hurt from watching the two tall men interact this close. “F-first, you can call me Daniel—”

“I will if you call me hyung”, Minhyun shot back boldly. Woojin wondered if this was what Youngmin had called _flirting_ , once.

“—Okay, okay, hyung”, Daniel conceded, a shade redder than before. “I’d love to, if it’s not troublesome for you.”

Minhyun smiled warmly at him. “Don’t worry, it won’t be. Woojin will help me cook.”

 “I always do!”, Woojin added, nodding excitedly.

Daniel let out a small laugh, looking down at the boy. “You really grew up well, Woojin-ah.”

Woojin hid his face on Minhyun again. Finding out that he could deal with crowds didn’t necessarily mean he knew how to respond to compliments, yet.

xxx

Things had improved a lot at the Hwang household after the showcase.

Minhyun had done as he’d promised; the day after the presentation, he pulled one last all-nighter to deliver his project, and sent in his vacation request right afterwards. It had been a while since he had last requested a vacation, and his supervisors easily granted him a week off. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for Woojin to enjoy his father’s presence a little; he had also promised he wouldn’t overwork himself again, under Dongho’s threatening gaze and everyone else’s scrutinizing glares.

The night of their dinner with Daniel, Woojin accidentally overheard a conversation between his dad and Minki, a few minutes before the time Daniel was supposed to arrive.

When walking by the kitchen, he noticed his father on the phone, fretting over the grill he was supposed to take to the dinner table and sighing more than usual.

“I don’t know, Minki”, he muttered into the receiver, adjusting his apron (a Batman apron, Woojin’s favorite; Woojin himself was wearing a child-sized Robin one to help Minhyun cook the rest of the dinner). “I mean, I invited him for dinner with Woojin, but what if he thinks this is a date?”

He looked around; Woojin ducked behind the door. “What if I _want_ this to be a date?”, he added quietly.

Uncle Minki’s voice had always been loud, especially so over the phone. Woojin could hear everything.

 _Well, dumbass, if you want this to be a date then you should probably dress up_ , Minki retorted. _Do you want him to think it’s a date?_

“I don’t know!”, Minhyun exclaimed a little louder, looking distressed. “What if he didn’t think it was a date and I’m overdressed for nothing? I’m gonna—I’m gonna stay in my sweats.”

 _Good_ , Woojin thought, looking down at himself. _At least we’re matching_.

(and they were; Minhyun had bought the same sweatshirt and pants for himself and Woojin, in different sizes. Apparently, everyone Woojin loved had also a fondness for matching sportswear)

 _Suit yourself_ , Minki replied. _You’ll die alone in your ugly sweats._

The doorbell rang, startling Minhyun into nearly dropping his phone, and Woojin quickly ran out to the hallway not to risk getting caught eavesdropping.

“I’ll open it!”, he shouted at his father before going to the door. Minhyun yelled back a _thanks_ , not yet leaving the kitchen. He took a deep breath before opening the door, his eyes widening the moment he saw Daniel.

Now, his teacher was a very casual person; when he wasn’t in sweats or general sportswear, he would usually wear t-shirts and jeans and snapbacks, in what Jihoon, that damn fashion terrorist, would call _street style_.

That night, Daniel had his hair slicked back and no hats on, and he wore a black button-up that Woojin could only classify as _elegant_ in his mind, with black pants that didn’t have holes on his knees for a change.

(was he wearing _dress shoes_?)

In his hands, a bouquet of red flowers.

Woojin was dumbstruck; Minhyun emerged from the kitchen, hair messed up from all his fretting and removing his apron, and stood just as dumbstruck as his son.

“Dad”, Woojin said, unable to help himself, “I think it was a date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry for this monster of a chapter
> 
> and i don't make any promises about 1. chapter 3's length, 2. when i'll post chapter 3... i have two fic projects to finish before december, so :( i. hope you enjoyed it though

**Author's Note:**

> nielnyeonists unite @ my [twitter](http://twitter.com/worldwidehndsm_)


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